The Item Gallery
by RB Whiffet
Summary: A series of oneshots, each about a different item in PMD2. Rated T due to language.
1. Golden Apple

**Greetings, Pokémon fans! I do hope you will bear with me. I haven't put anything on FanFiction for a long time, and I realized that the one story I did have up was a terrible idea. Which is why, as of right now, this is my only story. If you could give me constructive criticism, I would appreciate it. I can't hope to improve without knowing what I am doing right or wrong.**

**Disclaimer: No, I do not own Pokémon. If I did, I would be demanding that the fifth generation starters be redone.**

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**1. Golden Apple**

"We should be finding it somewhere around here," Kevin reported. "That's what Buneary says, anyway."

"... 'Kay," Bolt grunted. "I'll keep an eye out." The Pikachu was grateful that his human-turned-Totodile friend was the one handling their client on this mission. Frankly, Bolt could barely restrain himself from attacking the annoying little Buneary.

"This is so _fun!_" Buneary screamed for the umpteenth time. "I always wanted to explore a dungeon! And it's the Foggy Forest! I LOVE THE FOGGY FOREST! IT'S SO COOL! Did you know, wild Buneary live here? That's so _awesome!_"

"Really?" Bolt muttered. "Wow, gee, I had no idea, even though we've explored here so many times. And it's not like we haven't fought over half a dozen since we entered this damn dungeon or anything, is it? Nope, no idea."

Kevin stopped short. "Crap, I think the extra noise we're making just attracted five or so Breloom."

"That _we're_ making?"

"Oh, lighten up."

Several rooms later, Kevin peered into the fog. Where was the stupid item they were looking for? It had to be nearby. It just had to! "You see anything?"

Bolt looked around. "Nope, nothing in-wait, what's that?" He pointed to the corner. Kevin took a few cautious steps to get a closer look. It was bigger than any food item they had ever seen, and it shone brightly as though it contained its own light within. Could it be...? It was!

"We've found it!" he cheered. "The Golden Apple!"

"YAY!" Buneary squealed. "YAHOO! It's a Golden Apple! It's so prettyful!"

Bolt groaned. "Can we please get out of here, like, right now?"

* * *

"Thanks for taking me on an adventure!" Buneary happily exclaimed. "You're such an _inspiration_ to me! You're totally the best team ever!"

Bolt's eyes widened. "Crud, I've heard this before..."

"I wanna join Team Tenacity!"

Kevin shifted his weight awkwardly. "Uh, while we appreciate your interest, adding another member is quite a large decision, that shouldn't be made just 'cuz someone wants to join..."

"He means, 'Hell no!'" Bolt helpfully added.

Buneary started tearing up. "You... don't want me?"

Kevin coughed before replying, "Well, we aren't accepting new members at this point in time, so... no."

"... WAHHHHHHHHHHH!" Buneary wailed as she rocketed out of the guild. "You're mean! I want my mommy! My mommy loves me!" Stunned, Kevin and Bolt stood listening to Buneary's blubbering fade into the distance.

Kevin laughed lightly. "Can you believe that she actually wanted to be on an exploration team?"

"She's a little baby," Bolt scoffed. "No chance at even surviving an exploration on her own. I don't like her."

"Wigglytuff acts like that sometimes, and you don't mind."

"She didn't even pay us," Bolt whined, ignoring Kevin's point. "No fair!"

"Hey, at least we got the Golden Apple."

"What do we do with it?"

A silence settled upon the two friends as they realized that they had no idea what a Golden Apple was used for. Finally, Kevin suggested, "Maybe Wigglytuff knows something about this. I mean, since he likes Perfect Apples so much, maybe he knows about these, too."

Decision made, Team Tenacity climbed down to the second floor and entered Wigglytuff's chamber. Wigglytuff looked up as his apprentices came in. "Hi, friends!" he cheerfully greeted. "How did your mission go today?"

"Fine," Kevin replied. "But this weird apple we got from it... we don't know what we should do with it." Wigglytuff stared at the Golden Apple Kevin was carrying.

"Is that a new kind of Perfect Apple?"

"No, it's called a Golden Apple." Kevin's heart sank. Wigglytuff didn't know. "We were hoping that maybe you knew something..."

"Have no fear, friendly friends!" Wigglytuff smiled. "I'll have a quick taste and let you know. Who knows, it might be almost as good as a Perfect Apple!" Kevin shrugged and handed the Golden Apple over.

Wigglytuff looked closely at the apple before grabbing a nearby Iron Thorn (what, you thought they had knifes in this world?) and cutting a small piece. He brought it up to his face, sniffed, and finally put it in his mouth and began chewing. Kevin and Bolt watched Wigglytuff for his reaction. After a few seconds, Wigglytuff gasped and grabbed the whole apple.

"H-hey! What are you doing?" Bolt stammered.

"GOLDEN APPLE!" Wigglytuff screamed, his eyes wild. Before either apprentice could react, Wigglytuff had swallowed the entire thing, stem and all.

"What was that for?" Kevin complained. "That was ours!"

"MORE!" Wigglytuff cried. "Bring more Golden Apples! Go! Perfect Apples shall never again satisfy!"

"We don't have any more!" Bolt gasped, realizing what was going on. "Mew, Wigglytuff, that thing is next to impossible to find; you can't try to replace your stock of Perfect Apples with those..."

"B-but... if I can't have Golden Apples..." Wigglytuff began tearing up. "I... I..."

Kevin started panicking. "What do we do, Bolt?"

Bolt shrugged. "I vote we get out of here."

"Yeah, good idea." Kevin and Bolt turned to flee just as Chatot was entering to see what was going on. They managed to squeeze out, thus leaving Chatot to face the fearsome tears of Wigglytuff all by himself.

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Needless to say, after Chatot found out what had happened, the other apprentices were saving some of their dinners for a week.


	2. Gravelerock

**Wow... no reviews? Seriously? I mean, I'm not an attention seeker or anything, but I _would_ like some advice to help me improve my skills, you know? What you like, what you don't like... I don't care, just a quick comment.**

**These stories will have varying lengths. It depends entirely on how long it takes me to get through it; I'm not trying to make it actually hit a certain length.**

**For later reference, I'm going to say that dungeons after Temporal Tower do exist, but simultaneously pretend that everything else after you stop the planet's paralysis just doesn't happen. I think it's more fun at the guild, so Team Tenacity is not going to graduate.**

**Disclaimer**: **Hmm, let me check... nope, I still don't own Pokémon. Darn.**

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**2. Gravelerock**

The Northern Desert was not an easy exploration for electric types, and Bolt was no exception. Sure, Team Tenacity was strong enough by now to barely take any damage from the Pokémon there, but the presence of ground types with Lightningrod were enough to make any battle a challenge for the Pikachu.

"Mew, I hate this dungeon," Bolt muttered.

Kevin in front grunted. "Quit whining," he ordered. "I'm a water type; I've got no problems here. Just sit back. If you really need to fight, use Quick Attack or Slam or something. Now shut up!"

Bolt rolled his eyes. Kevin obviously did not understand how important it was for Pikachu to be able to defend themselves with electricity. Without that power, they felt completely helpless. The dungeon's endless sandstorm had clearly put Kevin in a bad mood, however, so Bolt decided to bite back his disgust with the whole situation. Anyway, not fighting had made him bored.

* * *

It had been about twenty minutes in the dungeon, and Bolt was about to go insane. He needed to do something! Anything! Just as long as he wasn't bored anymore! He considered aiming a Thunderbolt at Kevin and laughing as he panicked the moment before it was caught by a Lightningrod, but Bolt quickly scrapped that idea.

"Could I see the Treasure Bag?" Bolt asked. Kevin tossed it back without comment. Bolt started digging through the bag, searching for something interesting. Oran Berries, a Max Elixir, a few Apples, nope, nothing particularly interesting... wait a minute!

"Hey, what's this?" Bolt lifted up the brown lump. "It kinda looks like a Geo Pebble, but it's heavier. And it's not grey."

"Weren't you paying attention after our mission three days ago?" Kevin groaned. "Dratini gave us some Gravelerocks as our reward. Don't you remember?"

"Gravelerock, huh?" Bolt passed it between his paws. "So it's better than a Geo Pebble, right?"

"How'd you figure that out, the fact that it's bigger and heavier?"

"Oh, shut up." Bolt moved the Gravelerock between his paws for a few more moments before suddenly tossing it at a nearby sleeping Cubone. The Cubone, of course, woke up and started running towards the two explorers.

"What the hell was _that_ for, Bolt?"

"I'm bored."

"So?"

"Just be quiet, 'kay?" Bolt started tossing more of the Gravelerocks at the Cubone. After he had thrown a few, the Cubone collapsed and lay unmoving on the dungeon floor.

Kevin looked into the Treasure Bag. "Well, that's just great," he said. "We had ten Gravelerocks and you just used way too many of them up."

"Who cares? That was fun." Bolt took several steps towards the fainted Cubone. "If you care that much, I could try looking for them."

"Whoa!" Kevin's eyes bugged out. "I never thought about it. Where do they go after you throw them?"

That was all the encouragement Bolt needed. He and Kevin spent several minutes searching around and in (don't ask, you don't want to know) the Cubone's body. Sadly, their search came up dry.

"I bet the dungeon's spatial anomaly takes them away," Kevin guessed, disappointed. "They could have ended up anywhere. Probably end up in an entirely different part of the dungeon for other explorers to find."

"Maybe they even leave the dungeon altogether," Bolt agreed. "Oh well, it was worth a shot. Let's eat some Apples and keep going."

* * *

Meanwhile, at the Hot Springs, Chatot was talking to Torkoal in an attempt to learn about legends involving the Golden Apples. Just as Torkoal was explaining that no story told about a place where they could definitely be found, some Gravelerocks randomly fell from the sky onto Chatot's head, knocking him unconscious.

* * *

**I've got several items planned out already, but if someone has a request, there's no reason to not ask. In fact, if I've already got a plan for that item, I'll do it right away!**


	3. X Eye aka Allure Seed

**Three reviews? Well, it's nice to know that some people are enjoying this.**

**Disclaimer: -**_**insert standard disclaimer here**_**-**

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**3. X-Eye/Allure Seed**

"Ah, hello, Team Tenacity!" Kecleon exclaimed as Kevin and Bolt walked up to his shop. "Would you like to see what I have today?"

"Yes, please," Kevin eagerly said. He'd long figured something out about the Kecleon brothers... they understood perfectly that all exploration teams visited to buy supplies. Therefore, they saw no need to call attention to their stock unless they had something unusual. "What do you have?"

"An incredibly special kind of seed!" Kecleon exclaimed as he lifted several up. "These X-Eye Seeds will render wild Pokémon completely helpless! Nothing will appear to be what they truly are! It will be as though your enemy's minds are in a completely different world! You will be able to quickly and easily defeat them while they don't have the slightest clue what is going on! Not only that, but they last much longer than, say, a Sleep Seed or a Totter-"

"Wait, hang on!" Bolt interrupted. "I think I've heard of these before. I thought they were called Allure Seeds or something dumb like that."

Kecleon sighed. "Well, I'm not supposed to tell customers this, but they really are the same thing. They're just prepared by different Pokémon companies."

"Ah, of course," Kevin laughed. "We'll take three."

Kecleon took the Poké from the Totodile and duly handed over the seeds. "Use them well," he advised. "Oh, and... just between us, would you not tell Officer Magnezone about these?"

"What, what?" Bolt gasped. "Are these illegal or something?"

"Oh, Mew forbid I should engage in illegal practices!" Kecleon said quickly. "I was just worried. Some time ago a few children found a large stock of X-Eye Seeds and ate them all at once. The effects were terrible; ever since, Magnezone has been wary of shopkeepers keeping too many of these on hand. Really!"

"Well, okay," Kevin nervously responded before turning to Bolt. "Come on, we should get some stuff out of Kangaskhan Storage. Since we've never been to this dungeon before, we should be prepared."

* * *

"Oh, yes, let's be prepared, Bolt!" Bolt shouted as the two walked along. "Let's make sure we have all sorts of stuff so we can make sure we can handle anything! Oh, that takes up a lot of room in our bag? Don't worry, Midnight Forest is, after all, a forest. We'll probably find lots of food there. No need to waste space with food!"

"I get it!" Kevin groaned. "I messed up. Would you leave it alone already?"

"Leave it alone, Bolt! Quit going on about it, Bolt! I know I got so mad after you ate the last Apple that I tried to attack you, and that you had to paralyze me to save yourself, but it's so much worse to bring attention to my mistakes!"

"Look," Kevin grunted. "I think we're on the last floor. Twenty-five, right? So we just gotta find the way out. Please, please just stop pointing out I was wrong and watch for the exit?"

"You're already weak from hunger," Bolt pointed out. "You are _not_ going to make it that far. You're not even going to make the next three minutes."

"We've already looked over most of the floor." Just then, the two conveniently walked out of the corridor into the room with the exit. "Hah! See? We'll be fine!" Kevin exclaimed just before he collapsed. "Hungry..."

Bolt rolled his eyes. "What did I tell you?"

"Need food. Now."

"Just a second." Bolt shot a Shock Wave at a Beautifly coming from the other side of the room. "Okay, now I can look to see what we have."

Bolt wasn't surprised by what he found in the Treasure Bag. There were no more Apples, no Gummis, and not even any decent berries. They had brought plenty of Oran Berries, sure, but those had been used up pretty quickly after being attacked by a group of Ledian. _Damn Silver Wind!_ Bolt thought bitterly. He had to have just stepped on a trap that kept him from using Discharge, too. Terrible luck. "Okay, um... no good food items."

"Look more," Kevin whispered. "Don't wanna lose to dungeon. Need food. Just a little."

Bolt dug through the Bag some more. He pulled out a bag of seeds and looked at it quizzically. Where had that come from?... Oh. Right. "We've got nothing but those seeds from Kecleon, dude. Looks like you're screwed."

"Give."

"What are you, crazy?"

"Just one. Won't hurt."

"Oh, hell." Bolt handed a seed to Kevin. "Don't whine to me about the effects." As Kevin put the seed in his mouth, Bolt noticed a tiny label on the bag. He held it up to his face to try and read it and squinted. After a moment, the words suddenly snapped into focus:

_**WARNING**_

**This product contains LSD.**

**The producers and vendors of this product are not liable for its misuse.**

Bolt gaped for a moment, then wailed, "Kevin, hang on a sec! This is acid!"

"Who-o-o-o-oa!" Kevin moaned. "Lots of colors!" He looked at Bolt. "DUDE! It's a substitute-decoy thingamajigger!"

"Crap, that was fast." Bolt shook his head.

"Bolt? Izzat you?" Kevin peered at Bolt in astonishment.

"Yes. Now come on, we gotta get out of here!"

"Bolt, you're turning into a Piplup. Stop it."

"Damn it!" Bolt screamed. He grabbed Kevin's tail and dragged him over to the exit.

Kevin grinned, unaware of anything strange. "Flowers! Lotsa flowers! Keep going to the pretty flowers!"

* * *

"Hey, Bolt?" Kevin asked. Bolt looked up. They had been back at the guild for several hours Bolt had immediately dragged Kevin to their room before anyone could ask questions. He'd been forcing Kevin to stay in his bed ever since.

"Are you done tripping yet?" Bolt asked warily.

"I guess."

"Good."

"Uh..." Kevin shifted uncomfortably. "I want another."

Bolt's jaw dropped as he stared at Kevin in disbelief. "No, no, no, and no. No way in hell you are having another X-Eye Seed."

"But I need it. I mean... after I ate it... I had some kind of epiphany. I figured out the meaning of the universe. I just don't remember what it was. Maybe if I have another I'll remember it. Come on, I know they're in our Bag..."

Bolt didn't bother replying. He stood up, picked up the Treasure Bag, and walked out of the room. Just outside was Chimecho.

"You two have been in there ever since you got back," Chimecho said worriedly. "You even missed dinner. Are you all right?"

Bolt hesitated, then sighed. "Kevin ate an X-Eye Seed."

Chimecho gasped. "An X-Eye Seed? But those have-"

"I know." Bolt gritted his teeth. "He's come out of it, but now he wants more."

"Do you _have_ more? Because if you do, well... he'll get to them."

"Two more. Don't know what to do with them. I can't just throw them out or something. What if Azurill or someone found them and didn't know what they were?" Bolt shook his head. "This sucks."

"Hey, I have an idea." Chimecho grinned mischievously. "Give them to me. I know exactly what to do."

Bolt opened the Treasure Bag and hesitated. "You... aren't going to just eat them yourself, are you?"

"Of course not!"

"Just checking."

* * *

Wigglytuff walked into his chambers, giggling happily. What an amazing, wonderful day it had been! Wigglytuff absently wandered around the room. Would tomorrow be as good as today? Or would it be even better? Suddenly he noticed something by one of his boxes. What could that be? Wigglytuff walked over and looked down.

"Oof," Chatot grunted.

"Chatot? Friendly friend, what are you doing there?"

Chatot moved slightly. He was lying on the floor, face down. "I beg your pardon, madam, but... _get off_," he gasped, somewhat muffled.

"Uh, what?" Wigglytuff twitched his ears. "There's no one here except me, and I'm not a madam. And I'm not on top of you, either, friend."

"Simba? Nala?"

"Um, okay." Wigglytuff sweatdropped and exited the room.

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**I'm thinking of including the other apprentices more often. I might even have some stories dedicated just to them, without Team Tenacity getting involved. What do you think?**

**Also, am I the only one who always imagined Chatot with Zazu's voice?**


	4. Escape Orb

**I certainly appreciate the reviews I have received from you guys. If you can think of anything I can improve on, don't hesitate to tell me about it. I know better than to assume that any review that doesn't say, "OMGZ UR PREFECT!11!" is a flame.**

**Disclaimer: -**_**insert standard disclaimer here**_**-**

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**4. Escape Orb**

Marowak smiled underneath his skull as Kevin and Bolt walked into the dojo. "Come to do some training, have you?" he asked happily.

"Not so much for us as for Chaos here," Kevin replied, beckoning towards the Riolu entering behind. "We just recruited him, and we thought that we should get used to fighting together in one of your training mazes before we went out on an actual mission."

"So which one should we do?" Bolt wondered, looking into the odd hallway that went to the mazes. "I say we do the Fire/Dark one. We can see how Chaos fights while you guys both have some decent type advantages."

"Is that okay with you?" Kevin asked Chaos. The new recruit nodded nervously. "Good. Let's go."

Marowak watched as the team headed into the maze. "Well," he muttered as he shook his head, "I suppose it's a good thing they didn't try to do some quick training in Final Maze again... why on Earth did my grandfather put that place in here anyway?..."

* * *

The Houndour growled at Chaos and charged. Chaos shuddered in terror, but stood his ground. Just as the Houndour got within range, Chaos used Quick Attack and hit the Houndour for decent damage. Angered, the Houndour leaped over the remaining distance and attacked Chaos with an Ember. Chaos winced, but he retaliated with a Force Palm across the snout. That proved to be enough; the Houndour groaned and fainted, defeated.

"He seems pretty decent," Kevin whispered to Bolt. "Still, he needs to get stronger before we can send him into some of the harder dungeons."

"How about smarter with his moves?" Bolt whispered back. "I think that the Force Palm alone would have easily caused a knock out; he didn't need to use up a Quick Attack."

"Maybe. Maybe not. If so, he's stronger than he's letting on."

"Why the hell would he pretend to be weaker than he really is? You're reading too much into it. It could just be that he doesn't know any better."

"Uh, a little help here?" squeaked Chaos. Kevin turned and watched as a Magby let her own Ember loose onto the Riolu. Chaos attempted another Force Palm, but the Magby dodged and sprayed a foul-smelling Smog. "PLEASE? Help me!"

Bolt poked Kevin. "Don't help him. We need to see how he handles this. It might be funny."

"Would you want me to see how you handled it if you were having trouble against a Rhydon or something in a new dungeon?" Kevin asked dryly.

"That's different."

"HELP ME!" Chaos screamed. Kevin obliged and easily obliterated the Magby with a half-powered Water Gun.

Bolt sighed. "You suck, Kevin. That could've great!"

"Bolt!" snapped Kevin. "Honestly, sometimes you remind me of Team Skull."

"Whoa! That was low, Kevin. Really low."

"Guys?' Chaos said weakly. "I think I've been poisoned."

Kevin smacked his forehead. "Well, isn't this great? We haven't found the stairs yet in a dungeon that doesn't have Pecha Berries with a weakened and poisoned team member. And we can't stall this out with Oran Berries because we haven't found any yet!"

"Looks like you're screwed, Chaos," Bolt said lightly. "We'll meet you outside."

Chaos glared at Bolt. "Oh, yeah, just leave the team member behind. That's really nice."

"Hey, just because you're about to get kicked out of here doesn't mean we are."

"Quit arguing!" Kevin ordered. "Chaos, there's nothing we can do about this, so the inevitable result will be for you to faint. Bolt, you could at least _try_ to be less direct and uncaring about the situation!"

Bolt's ears stood straight up. "Less uncaring? Isn't that a double negative?"

"Why not just use one of the Escape Orbs we found?" Chaos suggested. "I mean, the only reason we're in here is me, right? You've got nothing to gain by finishing the dungeon without me, so why not?"

"An Escape Orb?" Kevin frowned. "Huh. I don't think we've ever even used one before. We thought it seemed like wimping out or something."

"Aw, do we have to?" Bolt complained. "I don't like orbs. They're alive, I swear! They're gonna get you in the night and take over the world!"

"... Plus Bolt doesn't like orbs," sighed Kevin. "Guess it wouldn't hurt to use one this time, though." He pulled out an Escape Orb. "Okay, here we go!"

"No! Don't!" shrieked Bolt. There was a dark blue flash as Kevin held up the orb, and then... "Wait, where did Kevin go?"

Chaos frowned. "I thought Escape Orbs were supposed to take the whole team out of the dungeon."

"Guess not." Bolt suddenly started laughing. "Hah! I knew it! The orbs lie! They're evil! Hahaha! They thought I was crazy, but I was right! I was _right_ the whole time!... Chaos?" Chaos collapsed from the poison damage and disappeared from the dungeon. "Huh. Looks like it's just me." Bolt wandered back the way they had been going. "I wonder if I should have mentioned that we passed the stairs in the last room."

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**Next up: Probably X-Ray Specs, by request. It isn't something that I've got an idea for yet, but since it's the first suggestion I've gotten I would like to do it. Hey, now that I'm thinking about it I have a few possibilities in mind already.**


	5. X Ray Specs

**Hm. I thought the last chapter wasn't all that good. Is it normal for authors to think less highly of their work than the readers do? Well, anyway, I personally like this one a little more. I hope it's better. If anyone thinks something isn't good, please tell me.  
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**Disclaimer: -**_**insert standard disclaimer here**_**-**

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**5. X-Ray Specs**

"HEY, YOU TWO!" Loudred shouted. Kevin and Bolt looked at each other and groaned as they walked to him. They knew all too well what _this_ meant.

"Can't do sentry duty today," Diglett told them. "You're going to have to cover for me again."

"And don't MESS UP this time!" Loudred added. "You're lucky that no one BAD has gotten in while you were on sentry duty!"

Bolt rose his paw. "Question. If we suck so hard at this, why do you keep making us do it?"

"SHUT YOUR YAP! GO DO YOUR DUTY!"

* * *

The sentry duty hole was dark and dirty. It certainly wasn't the most pleasant place to be, even without Loudred constantly yelling at you. Bolt had once suspected that the whole thing was a prank Diglett and Loudred played on new rookies, but he had eventually scrapped that theory.

"Stupid sentry duty," Bolt whined. "Seriously, it's the stupidest thing ever."

Kevin peered up at the grating. "Well, nothing we can do about it. I don't really feel like making Loudred yell in my face. Do you?"

"I don't get what it accomplishes," Bolt snorted. "Oh, look, a footprint! Let's figure out what species it is, and then we'll know if this Pokémon is okay to let in! Because, you know, that tells you everything about their intentions."

"I know," Kevin agreed. "It doesn't make sense. But what else can we do besides just going along with—POKÉMON DETECTED! POKÉMON DETECTED! The footprint belongs to... uh... Turtwig?"

"Bet you were wrong." Bolt stretched his body over the dirt floor. "Wake me up when it's over."

"What? Hell no! You're suffering this with me!"

"YOU WERE WRONG _AGAIN_, YOU MORONS!" Loudred screamed. "CAN'T YOU EVEN FIGURE OUT A PHANPY'S FOOTPRINT? ARRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHH!"

"You know what?" Bolt lifted his head and looked towards Kevin. "I'm going to figure out a better way. You wait and see."

* * *

Kangaskhan raised her eyebrow as Bolt walked over. "All right, Bolt, what do you think you're doing?"

"Huh?" Bolt stopped and stared. "Since when is it bad when I go to storage?"

"Since you broke in and threw out half the Escape Orbs I was guarding!"

Bolt grunted. Why didn't anyone understand? "Look, I was just wondering if anyone had some ideas. I talked to the Kecleon brothers, but they didn't have anything."

"Ideas about what? How to avoid getting murdered when Team AWD finds out some of their orbs are missing?"

"Ideas that would make sentry duty slightly more sane."

Kangaskhan blinked. After a moment, she started laughing. "Really, dear? You mean it finally occurred to someone at the guild that footprints are a completely ridiculous way to determine who someone is?"

Bolt looked up, startled. "I'm not the only one to realize how stupid it is?"

"Oh, dear, no! I've wondered why they did it that way for a long time." Kangaskhan disappeared and quickly came back with a pair of glasses. "I always thought that these would be a better way. You haven't used these since you got them, have you? X-Ray Specs let you see through walls. You can even have someone on a lower floor look up and see who's there."

"Great idea! Thanks!" Bolt took the X-Ray Specs and left cheerfully.

* * *

"I've got stuff to do again today," Diglett said apologetically. "So if you could just cover for me, that would be great."

"No," Bolt said firmly. Kevin winced and mentally prepared for the storm.

"WHAT?" Loudred screamed. "_NO?_ You can't just refuse!"

"I've got a better idea," Bolt said. "I propose that, just for today, you do sentry duty on your own with these." He held out the X-Ray Specs. "We'll just see if it works, all right?"

"X-Ray Specs?" Diglett looked at the item curiously. "Hey, that's actually a pretty good idea."

"UGH!" Loudred huffed. "You LIKE this idea, Diglett? REALLY?"

"Come on, give it a shot. Why not?"

"FINE!" Loudred exclaimed. "We'll do it that way. JUST FOR TODAY, THOUGH! _GOT IT?_"

"Cool." Bolt grinned. "Okay, Kevin, we can go explore today. Aren't you glad I tried this?"

* * *

"_TEAM TENACITY, GET DOWN HERE!_"

Bolt and Kevin jumped as they walked into the guild. Kevin looked around nervously. "Uh oh, this can't be good." The two friends climbed down the ladders to the bottom floor and found Loudred glaring in their direction. Next to him, Diglett, Chimecho, and Croagunk were snickering.

"What's wrong?" Bolt asked.

"What's wrong? WHAT'S WRONG? These STUPID X-Ray Specs you gave me, THAT'S what's wrong!" Loudred threw the specs towards the sentry hole, but they ended up missing. "Wearing these was the WORST idea EVER!"

"He kept walking into the walls," Chimecho explained. "He could see right through, so he didn't know where they were. I think he's gotten a bit bruised from doing that."

"Meh-heh-heh, I thought it was quite enjoyable." Croagunk smirked.

"_SEE IF I EVER LISTEN TO AN IDEA FROM YOU TWO AGAIN!_" Loudred shrieked. Bolt and Kevin fell over and covered their ears.

"Now, now, no need to get so upset," Chimecho said soothingly.

"Who's up for using these more?" Diglett asked brightly. "I think we all know _exactly_ who should wear them next."

* * *

"Dinner!" Chimecho called. The guild immediately stampeded to the mess hall and sat down in their usual spots.

"Hey, hey, hey?" Corphish stared at the head of the table. "Where's Chatot?"

"He'll be here soon," Chimecho promised.

"But we can't eat until he gets here, or he'll be very upset!" Dugtrio replied. "You're sure it won't be long?"

Chimecho opened her mouth to reply when they heard an odd thump outside. The apprentices turned and watched as Chatot, wearing a strange-looking pair of specs, stumbled into the room, bumping into whatever happened to be nearby.

"Don't worry about these glasses," Chatot said as he finally managed to settle into his place. "They make it quite hard to navigate around the guild, but I have been assured that after I have worn them for a week I shall be able to see much more clearly than before. Now, everyone, let's eat!" With that, Chatot opened his beak, moved towards his food, and proceeded to slam into the table edge.

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**I've been thinking I should try to update on Tuesdays and Fridays. I can't this Friday, though, so I'm updating on a Monday so a Thursday update doesn't feel too soon.**


	6. Mobile Scarf

**I'm not getting any tips on improving my writing, so I'm just going to take my best guess at what I should change. Right now I'm thinking I rely too much on dialogue, so I'm going to try to fix that.**

**The form this idea originally took was terrible. I hope it's better now.**

**Disclaimer: -**_**insert standard disclaimer here**_**-**

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**6. Mobile Scarf**

Bolt lay down, exhausted. He and Kevin had experienced a particularly stressful day. They had taken a job to rescue a Metang in Dark Crater. After wandering around the dungeon for hours and failing to find Metang, they eventually realized that the idiot had wandered into the lava, gotten burned, and fainted. After an exploration that draining, Bolt just wanted to sleep.

"You two, get up and come here!" a voice screeched. Bolt groaned and lifted his head to see a very impatient-looking Chatot glaring down at them. "Come on, we haven't got all night!"

Bolt sat up and blearily stared back. "Now...?"

"Yes, now!" Chatot bounced from foot to foot. "I expect to see you in the Guildmaster's chamber in two minutes!" With that, Chatot turned around and flapped away.

"...Ugh," Kevin groaned. He stood up and kicked Bolt, who had immediately collapsed back onto his bed. "Come on, let's go." Kevin kicked Bolt several more times until he finally stood up, and the two friends stumbled through the hall to Wigglytuff's chamber.

"Hi, friends!" Wigglytuff greeted as Bolt and Kevin dragged themselves into the room. "Why are you here?"

Chatot flapped his wings nervously. "Guildmaster, you said you had something to give them, remember?"

"Oh, yes, that's right!" Wigglytuff held out a box. "You remember how you skipped dinner a few weeks back? Well, that was actually the day where we celebrated the sixty-first anniversary of the founding of Treasure Town! I have a tradition of searching for some pretty neat items in dungeons and giving them to the apprentices on that day, but you never got yours."

Kevin went up to take the box from Wigglytuff. Bolt wondered for a moment why it had taken this long for Wigglytuff to give them anything, but quickly decided that there was no answer. Wigglytuff was Wigglytuff, and that was all the explanation he could expect.

"What is this?" Kevin asked. Bolt lifted his head and forced himself to focus on what Kevin was holding. He saw a frayed deep-green scarf covered with dark brown dots. It appeared to be quite silky and soft, but Bolt thought it must have been too thin to keep the average Pokémon's neck warm.

"That's a Mobile Scarf!" Wigglytuff explained. "It's a very wonderful scarf which will allow you to walk anywhere. You can even walk through walls!"

Kevin brought the scarf up to his eye for a close look. "That's cool. So we can just ignore walls and go directly to the stairs. Pretty useful."

"Oh, no, you shouldn't do that!" Wigglytuff cautioned. "You'll get too hungry in a dungeon really fast if you do that."

Bolt's snapped his head up, suddenly wide awake. He had only been half-listening, but after the disaster which had caused them to skip dinner that day in the first place, he had been very frightened of any mention of getting too hungry. "Do you mean to tell us that if we use this in a way that's actually helpful, we'll faint from hunger in no time?" he demanded.

"Yep!" Wigglytuff grinned. "Well, good night, friends!"

* * *

Bolt was fuming as he and Kevin went back to their room. Why had Wigglytuff given them an item with such a horrible side effect? It was ridiculous.

"No point getting upset," Kevin whispered, noticing Bolt's expression. "It's still a pretty cool item, after all. And Wigglytuff meant well."

"Yeah, he gave us an item that makes you faint in a dungeon, basically!" Bolt snorted.

"Hush!" Chatot snapped, startling them both. They whipped around and discovered he had entered the room right behind them. "I don't want to hear you complaining!" Chatot lectured. "This is a very rare and sought-after item. You should consider yourselves lucky. Why, the Guildmaster wanted to give you a TM for Protect, but I convinced him that your team deserved a rarity such as the Mobile Scarf."

"_What?_" Bolt wailed. "_You_ decided we should get this scarf? And Wigglytuff was going to give us the exact TM we've spent a month looking for?"

"Certainly!" Chatot icily hissed. "And I expect you both to be utterly grateful for my time!" With that, he turned and flew off towards the top of the ladder for the night. Bolt put his head in his paws in dismay.

"Well," Kevin noted, "that explains a lot. I guess we should get some sleep now, eh?"

Bolt gritted his teeth. He definitely was not tired anymore. He was too pissed. He watched as Kevin laid their bag and the scarf into the corner and lay down on his own bed. "G'night, Bolt," Kevin said sleepily.

"Yeah, 'night," Bolt muttered.

* * *

Bolt estimated that about an hour and a half had passed. He was sure that everyone else in the guild was long asleep. He stepped off of his bed as silently as he could manage and reached for the corner. _Chatot wants us to have a Mobile Scarf, does he?_ Bolt felt his paw brush against the silky scarf. _Perhaps he needs to have someone change his mind for him._ He grabbed the scarf and silently slipped into the hall. As he carefully tied it around his neck, he went over what he would do. He'd had plenty of time to think about it, of course, but somehow his exact words didn't satisfy him. _Good enough, I guess._ Bolt sneaked as close to the ladder as he dared. When he felt it was time, he reached towards the wall. _Here goes._

Inside the wall, Bolt decided, was not a very pleasant place. Wigglytuff had been right when he said traveling inside walls would make you hungry; each step seemed to suck energy right out of him. On the plus side, the Mobile Scarf seemed to provide air. It was as easy to breathe inside the wall as it was outside.

Bolt forced himself to stand as close to the edge of the wall as possible. He wanted to make sure he could be heard, but he couldn't risk being seen, either. "Chatot..." he moaned in the deepest voice he could muster. Chatot stirred slightly. "Chatot!" Bolt repeated, this time a bit louder. Chatot opened his eyes and looked around. "Chatot!"

"Wh-Who's there?" Chatot stammered, eyes widened as he spun his head. Bolt forced down laughter; this might be easier than he thought.

"Chatot... in this guild... you have a cursed item."

"_What?_" Chatot gasped. "A cursed item? Impossible!"

"A cursed item... cursed by its original owner... a Mobile Scarf..."

"The Mobile Scarf? Cursed? How do you know? Who _are_ you?"

"I am..." Bolt momentarily panicked as he tried to come up with something convincing. "I am Siotan the Elekid... the scarf's first victim... my life taken from me... far too early... I have come to warn you."

"The scarf was a gift to Team Tenacity!" Chatot wailed. "I cannot simply take it from them!"

"You must take it... get rid of it... for their sake... or your whole guild will fall to the curse..."

"But take it! And it was given to them for Treasure Town's Founding Day, too!"

"Do you wish for the curse to fall onto your guild?"

"No! Of course not!"

"Then get rid of it... give them something else, instead... your Guildmaster was right, a TM for Protect was a much better option..."

"C-certainly!" Chatot flew off of the ladder. "I'll wake Team Tenacity and do that right away!"

"No!" Bolt ordered. "Let them sleep now. The curse takes effect after a long period of time... you have kept it these weeks with no ill effects, haven't you? One more night will not kill you. But wait much longer..."

"I understand, Siotan, sir!" Chatot settled back onto his perch, shivering. "I'll take care of it, you can count on me!"

"Good... now, farewell..." Bolt turned and walked deeper into the wall, barely resisting the urge to burst into laughter.

* * *

Bolt left the wall once he had made it into the crew room hallway and walked happily into his and Kevin's room. As he tossed the scarf back into the corner, he noticed Kevin was awake and looking in his direction.

"Okay, Bolt," Kevin said. "What did you do this time?"

"Nothing much," Bolt grinned widely. "Just making the world right."

"Whatever." Kevin closed his eyes. "I suppose you'll be wanting me to keep a straight face in the morning again, right?"

"Exactly."

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**About the Mobile Scarf's appearance... I decided that it's really stupid for all these different items to look identical in the story just because the game uses the same picture. I know most of you are fine with this without any sort of explanatory note at the bottom, but there's going to be some person out there who says, "Hey, that Mobile Scarf should be pink!" Well, it isn't. Deal.**


	7. Itemizer Orb

**Thanks for the reviews.**

**Disclaimer: -**_**insert standard disclaimer here**_**-**

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**7. Itemizer Orb**

Treasure Town and Wigglytuff Guild were generally peaceful places. True, exploration teams constantly left for missions, Officer Magnezone made visits every day to pick up captured outlaws, and Wigglytuff occasionally started crying his eyes out; but nothing else usually happened that could make someone stop and stare. Just outside of the guild, however, there was a loud argument in process that attracted the attention of several eavesdropping apprentices. Team Tenacity, apparently, had a massive disagreement over something.

Kevin shook his head in exasperation. How long was this going to last? "Bolt, for the last time, orbs are not evil sentient beings determined to take over the world. Now quit being a moron and just come on!"

"No way," Bolt growled. He glared at the swirling purple orb. "You don't know what these things are capable of. Seriously."

Kevin grabbed the orb. After placing it in the bag, he stood up and crossed his arms. "We're going to bring some orbs along today. If you're going to be that stubborn, you can just not come today," he challenged.

"Fine with me!" Bolt shot back. "You two can go on ahead. If you use that thing, you'll wish you had listened to me! Oh, yes, you will!" Bolt immediately turned around and stomped back into the guild. Kevin rolled his eyes and headed down to meet Chaos.

"Where's Bolt?" Chaos asked as Kevin approached him.

"Not coming today," Kevin replied. He pulled out the Wonder Map to make sure they started in the right direction. "Okay, let's go."

* * *

The Marine Resort wasn't particularly challenging from Kevin's point of view. Chaos, on the other hand, seemed to be having a bit of trouble. Kevin had to force himself to stay patient. Chaos was inexperienced; problems were perfectly normal. He probably was actually having an easier time than he would have had if Bolt had come. Bolt wasn't exactly known for being encouraging. Even so, Kevin couldn't help but miss him. Bolt kept explorations interesting with his sarcastic remarks and cocky attitude.

"Look, Kevin!" Chaos exclaimed excitedly, jolting Kevin out of his thoughts. "I defeated a Persian, all by myself!"

"Good job," Kevin complimented. "Don't stay ahead, though. Let me go first, okay?"

"Okay!"

Kevin stepped ahead of Chaos and carefully scanned the area. Few dungeons posed much of a challenge for him nowadays, but he needed to keep an eye out for anything that could knock out Chaos. No monsters remained in this room except for a sleeping Ambipom, so Kevin turned toward a corridor and led the little exploration party through the dungeon.

* * *

"I can't believe all the gummis we've been finding!" Chaos exclaimed as he bit into an Orange Gummi. "I might actually be able to evolve soon! Wouldn't that be great?"

"If you want to evolve, I guess so," Kevin replied as he scouted the room, distracted. He could hardly believe how vulnerable he felt without Bolt standing behind his back. Kevin shook his head and vaguely wondered if he was starting to get paranoid. "As soon as you're done, we gotta keep going. I think we're halfway through, so the next floor should have Seviper. We'll find her and leave."

Chaos stuffed the remaining piece of gummi into his mouth and stood up, grinning. "Yeah! Let's go for it, Kev—WHOA!" Chaos gasped and pointed. "Behind you, Kevin!" Kevin whipped around and immediately saw what Chaos had noticed. Charging right toward them was a Slowbro, a Bellossom, and a Miltank.

Kevin took his battle stance. "Stay back, Chaos," he warned. As the three wild Pokémon reached him, Kevin struck. He started by using Ice Fang on the Bellossom's body, which caused her to instantly faint. He felt a sting on his side as the Slowbro attacked him. Kevin retaliated with a Crunch to the head. The Slowbro screamed in agony as Kevin forced himself to hang on as tightly as he could manage.

At that moment, Kevin made out a scream from Chaos. He forced himself to focus on the battles at hand and put his fears for the recruit's well-being out of mind. Kevin released the Slowbro from his jaws and smacked him on the nose for the final defeating blow. Kevin then rounded on the Miltank and Screeched. The Miltank snarled and aimed a blow at Kevin's neck. Kevin ducked and struck the Miltank in the middle of her belly with a powerful Superpower. The victory was his!

Kevin nervously looked towards Chaos next to him. To his horror, he discovered that two other powerful Pokémon had come from the team's other side while the battles were going on. Chaos had managed to defeat the Lickilicky, but was obviously about to lose to... Kevin's eyes widened in dismay. A Pelipper! If Bolt was here, Kevin thought sadly, he could have easily caused a one-hit knock-out. Kevin doubted he could defeat the Pelipper in one hit after Superpower's attack drop, and Chaos obviously didn't have enough left in the tank to stay conscious while Kevin fought a longer battle. There was only one option Kevin could think of in the little time he had.

"Heads up, Chaos!" Kevin shouted as he lifted the final orb he had packed. There was a dark violet flash, and suddenly the Pelipper was gone. In its place sat a perfectly innocuous Oran Berry.

"What... what just happened?" Chaos asked tiredly.

"I used an Itemizer Orb," Kevin said. "It turned the Pelipper into an item."

"What?" Chaos gazed at the berry with his eyes widened. "You mean... an orb can turn a living, breathing Pokémon into an _item_?"

"Uh... yeah?" Kevin fidgeted nervously as the implications suddenly hit him. "I mean... I guess the Pokémon dies... but, uh, he was the bastard who attacked us in the first place, right?"

Chaos shuddered. "You know what? I don't want to think about it." He picked up the Oran Berry. "I'll just pretend this is a perfectly ordinary berry, think about how lucky it is that we found it while I was low on health, and eat it so we can go on."

"I wish Bolt were here," Kevin muttered as Chaos ate the berry. "I bet he would have a few things to say about this situation."

"Oh, I really don't want to know what he would say," Chaos groaned. "Seriously, I feel like I just ate a Pokémon. So wrong. On so many levels..." his voice trailed off slowly and he stared ahead blankly.

"Chaos?" Kevin asked. He waved his hand over the Riolu's face. "Hello? You all right?" Chaos didn't react. "C'mon, snap out of it!" Kevin shoved his friend forward.

"SQUAWK!" Chaos screamed. His eyes suddenly changed from their normal red to green. He waved his arms up and down and leaped into the air as he tucked his legs underneath him. Kevin jumped back as Chaos crashed into the ground.

"... Crap," Kevin moaned. "Okay, uh... Pelipper, leave Chaos alone!" Chaos flapped some more and made another attempt at flight. Kevin smacked himself on the forehead. "Something tells me we're gonna need to convince Xatu to do some fancy psychic work."

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**I don't like this one so much... I've wanted to do this item since the beginning, but I couldn't come up with a story that satisfied me. Once I saw a request for it, though, I figured I should attempt it instead of put it off forever. Hope you guys like it more than I do.  
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	8. Oren Berry

**Oh, wow... I haven't updated for some time. I'm sorry. A bunch of stuff all came up. I won't give you excuses, though. Instead, I'll try to make it up by giving you something a bit different. Be sure to tell me if I did a good job; I'm really not sure. I haven't tried something like this yet.**

**Disclaimer: -**_**insert standard disclaimer here**_**-**

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**8. Oren Berry**

_Sunflora's Oh My Gosh Diary_

_Horrible Day_

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Oh my gosh! The WORST thing happened today! It started with Corphish. I was supposed to go exploring with him... and he decided not to go!

See, what happened is that Bolt didn't go with Kevin today, for some silly reason. He was looking at the Job Bulletin Board for something else to do when Corphish went up to talk to him. Somehow, they ended up deciding to do a job on their own! And Corphish didn't even talk to me before deciding that! Eek!

Anyway, I couldn't figure out what to do. I thought everyone else had plans already. It turned out, there was one apprentice who didn't have anything to do... Bidoof! That wouldn't have been so bad, since he's gotten a lot better at exploring lately, but (oh my gosh!) Chatot noticed us talking and making plans and he threw a fit because we weren't already prepared! Eeeek! Then, as though that weren't bad enough, he insisted on coming with us for the job to make sure we weren't sneaking off to do something else! What could have given him that idea?

So, anyway, the three of us went to the Shimmer Desert. We were supposed to deliver a Max Elixir to this Skarmory who was wandering around in there. Corphish and I had planned to go there together because, if we teamed up, we would have a massive type advantage. I still had my Grass attacks, of course, but that was only me. Bidoof's Normal attacks didn't do much against those Rock types that were there, so I thought he would only be any use against everything else. But, oh my gosh! He actually learned SUPERPOWER! Eeeeeeeeeeeek! When did he do that? I could hardly believe it! Chatot, though, was terrible. For all his talk, he's a terrible battler. I knew we risked failing our mission as soon as Chatot decided to come.

After we had explored a while, we walked right into a Garchomp. We had just fought a Nidoking and an Arbok, both of which I have a hard time with, so I was pretty tired. I attempted to put the Garchomp to sleep with Grasswhistle, but I missed! Luckily Bidoof was able to use Hyper Fang, which got his attention away from me.

That was when things got terrible! Chatot decided that would be a good time to try and attack. He got close, but he never even got a hit! The Garchomp just Slashed him! Even worse, it was a critical hit! Oooh, it was terrible! Naturally, Chatot sat out as me and Bidoof finished the Garchomp off. After lecturing us as though it was _our_ fault he had been hurt in the battle, he told us to get an Oran Berry and heal him.

I was pretty upset with him, but of course I couldn't show it. I always try to keep a happy face. I agreed as cheerfully as I could and reached for our Treasure Bag. But, eek! Bidoof snatched it right out of my leaf! It seemed very, very rude of him. He told Chatot he would get the berry and dug around a bit. Soon he came out of the bag with a typical-looking blue berry, which he gave Chatot.

Okay, I didn't think anything of it at first. Then I took a closer look, and OH MY GOSH! It was an _Oren_ Berry, not an Oran Berry! I was so shocked, I couldn't even move as Chatot ate it! I thought that maybe Bidoof had made yet another mistake. That's when I noticed Bidoof was wearing a little smirk. Oh my gosh, he gave Chatot a bad berry on purpose! EEEEEK! Who would have thought _Bidoof_ would do that? He always acts so sweet and innocent!

Unsurprisingly, the Oren Berry did enough damage to Chatot to knock him out. As it turned out, that was a good thing. The mission went smoothly from that point. Once we got back, Chatot was steaming over the incident, but Bidoof claimed to have thought it really was an Oran Berry. What could Chatot do? Everyone knows Bidoof makes lots of mistakes, even after being an explorer for over a year now...

... Oh my gosh, maybe Bidoof has been doing that on purpose for a while?

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**Again, I sincerely apologize for the lateness. If you liked this, I may occasionally do more diary entries... be sure to tell me what you thought.**


	9. Doom Seed

**I'm trying to force myself to stick to twice-a-week updates. If I don't do that... well, I'll end up eventually not updating at all.**

**If anyone has ever had a negative experience with this item, I think you'll agree when I say that aforementioned experience makes you want to rip someone's head off.**

**Disclaimer: -**_**insert standard disclaimer here**_**-**

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**9. Doom Seed**

Some days, explorers wanted to go through the really difficult dungeons and strengthen themselves. Some days, the available missions were only for easy dungeons. Some days, it was just impossible to actually take jobs from the bulletin board. Team Tenacity was having one of those days.

"Okay," Kevin said as he and Bolt descended towards the beach. "If we go to the Hidden Land, it just has to be us two. Lapras won't let anyone else go."

"Fine with me." Bolt smirked. "So where's Lapr—oh, I see him."

Lapras was visibly swimming at some distance in the ocean. He quickly swam in towards the beach after Kevin whistled and waved. "Hello, Kevin and Bolt," he greeted. "Is there something you want?"

"Yeah," Kevin replied. "Would you take us to the Hidden Land today?"

"I would be glad to." Lapras chuckled. "That _is_ the main reason I stick around here, after all."

"Thanks!"

* * *

Bolt shifted impatiently. The first time he had made this journey, it had been pretty cool. The second time it had started to wane a bit. By now, frankly, it was old. Oh, sure, the whole dimensional sea-of-time part still was a bit breathtaking, but Bolt just wanted to get into the dungeons and fight. He hoped to level up today.

"All right, here we are," Lapras declared as they approached the edge of the Hidden Land. "Just give me a chance to stop and you can go."

"Please remain in your seat until the Pokémon has come to a complete stop," Bolt said in a sing-song voice. "Thank you for riding Lapras Airlines. Come again!"

Kevin held back laughter as Lapras pulled up. "Hee hee... okay, heh, now let's go."

"Oh, yeah!" Bolt cheered as he hopped off. "Let's go kick some ass!"

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The Hidden Land was one of Kevin's favorite dungeons. It recalled when he, Bolt, and Grovyle had been trying to stop the planet's paralysis. This, Kevin thought with a pain in his heart, had been the last place they had ever seen Grovyle. Sure, Grovyle apparently hadn't disappeared after all... but Kevin still missed his old friend. Sometimes he wondered what their lives had been like before his memory loss. He knew they were close before, but that knowledge didn't return the lost memories.

"HEE-YA!" Bolt screamed, jolting Kevin out of his thoughts. Bolt smacked a Rampardos across the chest with an Iron Tail, then leaped to his feet and ran down the corridor to a Manectric. "Fall to my might, Lightningrod bastard!" he shouted before knocking her over with a Quick Attack.

"Jeez, think you're attacking enough Pokémon yet?" Kevin asked as he ran to catch up. "Seriously, pace yourself, we're barely in here."

Bolt glanced back with a slightly crazed expression. "I'm going all out. Do me a favor and destroy every Manectric you come across, okay? As long as there are any on our floor, I can't use electric attacks."

"Oh, whatever," Kevin sighed. Arguing with Bolt was useless. Kevin made a mental note to keep an eye out for Apples... they would probably need them.

* * *

Fourteen floors. Somehow, Kevin had managed to find enough Apples and Max Elixirs to keep Bolt's rampage going through fourteen floors. Thankfully it would soon pay off; Bolt was nearing his next level. After he reached it, he would calm down and allow the remaining exploration to proceed normally.

"Oh, _yes_," Bolt whispered excitedly. "Look in there, Kevin!" Kevin peered into the room Bolt was pointing at. It contained a variety of gummis, seeds, and orbs. "I would bet my tail that this is a monster house!"

"Oh, really. A monster house." Kevin wasn't too fond of monster houses. Then again, he didn't have a move that could hit all enemies in a room. Discharge could hit all those Pokémon at once. "Just make sure we knocked out any Manectric before you try that, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," Bolt said impatiently. He stepped in, Kevin warily following. As the two predicted, a horde of Pokémon immediately stepped out of the grass and started growling at them. "Now, let's do this! Hah!" Bolt used Agility and zipped over to a Manectric on the other side of the room. Kevin used Aqua Tail on a closer Manectric as Bolt fell into a strong Slam on the one he had targeted.

Kevin took the opportunity to look around as Bolt threw some Iron Thorns at the remaining Manectric. There were two Garchomp they would have to take care of after Bolt had used Discharge. If there happened to be more Manectric elsewhere on the floor, they would also have to defeat a Purugly, two Bastiodon, a Magmortar, a Tropius, and a Dragonite by hand. One of the Bastiodon had picked up a reddish-pink orb, and the Dragonite had picked up a black seed.

"All RIGHT!" Bolt cheered as the Manectric fell. He grinned at all the Pokémon surrounding him. "Time to level!" He stood directly in front of the Magmortar and glared defiantly at him. Kevin watched cautiously. Bolt was usually pretty good at controlling where his Discharge went, but sometimes in a large room like this he couldn't keep his aim away from his water-typed partner.

Just then, the Dragonite flew up into the air and lifted his arm. Kevin's heart sank as he suddenly realized the Dragonite was aiming the seed right at Bolt. "WATCH OUT ABOVE!" Kevin screeched at the top of his lungs. Bolt jumped and looked up just in time to watch the seed fly like a bullet right between his ears. Bolt stiffened as the used seed disintegrated into nothing.

"Bolt?" Kevin asked nervously. "Bolt... what kind of seed was that?"

"I... I think..." Bolt's expression suddenly contorted with rage. "I'm a level lower, I feel it! That son of a bitch, he hit me with a Doom Seed! ARRRRRGH!" Bolt's fur and ears stood straight up. His front paws tightened into fists; he clenched his teeth. "I was just about to level up, too!" His tail suddenly straightened into a non-zigzag line.

"Oh, crap," Kevin whispered. "Please, no..." He knew what was coming next.

Bolt suddenly erupted with a massive anger-driven, unaimed Discharge. Every enemy Pokémon in the room, even the Garchomp, instantly fainted. Several Pokémon who were far down in connecting corridors were paralyzed. The only situation which could possibly compare to the power of this Discharge was a shouting Wigglytuff.

_Thank Mew that Chatot gave us the Protect TM!_ Kevin thought grimly as he struggled to keep the green bubble around him from shattering.

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**I'll try to see if I can get the next one done a little earlier, but I won't make any promises. I do, however, know exactly what I want to do with it. My only fear is that since I've had this idea for weeks, I'll end up reworking it to death... ugh.**


	10. Protein

**Oh, wow. I recently started a new game of Explorers of Time, and I had forgotten the extent of Chatot's idiocy. He thought you just fell in the dimensional hole by accident? Really?**

**Disclaimer: -**_**insert standard disclaimer here**_**-**

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**10. Protein**

"Explain to me what this is all about?" Kevin asked.

"I told you!" Bolt snapped, fairly annoyed. "It's the Tournament!"

"But what's the Tournament?"

Bolt rolled his eyes. They were standing at the edge of Treasure Town watching as some Machoke set up a stage. Bolt had known about the Tournament for his whole life, but clearly no one had bothered to tell Kevin about it.

"It's a tradition," Bolt explained as patiently as he could. "Every year the strongest Pokémon from all over gather in one area. They're paired up randomly for battles. The winners of those battles then fight each other, until there are only two left. Those two then battle for the top place. The winner gets prize money, a medal, and lots of fame and glory. It's a big deal for us because the Tournament hasn't been in Treasure Town for a long time."

Kevin thought for a moment. "So basically the Tournament is a series of sudden-death elimination matches?"

"Yeah, we got the idea from humans. You were human; don't you know about humans training Pokémon?"

"I'm an amnesiac from the damn future of darkness... how am I supposed to know about this crap?"

"Just saying." Bolt shrugged.

* * *

As the week passed, the guild was having a harder and harder time focusing on work. Construction for the Tournament was loud and highly visible; it was hard to keep your mind off of it. What was even more distracting were the Pokémon who were constantly showing up to fight. Dozens of famous and strong Pokémon could be seen standing around Treasure Town, perfectly willing to chat with the residents. The apprentices couldn't pass up the chance to gawk at celebrities.

"Oh my GO-O-O-OSH!" Sunflora screamed one day. "Gallade from Team Raider is here!" Naturally, everyone ran out to meet him. It took some time for Chatot to make everyone go back to work.

The next day, Sunflora exclaimed, "Lopunny from Team Charm is here!" Once again, Chatot had to struggle to keep order.

After a couple of weeks of this scene replaying, the preparations were finally complete. The stages were built and heavily supported (they had several spares in case a stage was destroyed in a battle, but the Tournament committee preferred to try and keep each stage usable for as long as possible) and all the stands for spectators were constructed. It was time for the Tournament to commence!

* * *

"Wow!" Kevin said, impressed. "There sure are a lot of strong Pokémon here."

Bolt nodded excitedly. The two friends were standing in a crowd that was waiting to watch the first match. "I've never seen a Tournament before!" Bolt admitted. "I've always wanted to, but I never got the chance. This is awesome!"

"ATTENTION, POKÉMON!" a booming voice shouted. Everyone turned to look at the platform hanging over the stage. An Exploud from the Tournament committee was standing there to make announcements. "WELCOME TO THE FORTY-SIXTH ANNUAL TOURNAMENT! REFRESHMENTS HAVE BEEN GRACIOUSLY PROVIDED BY THE KECLEON SHOP FRANCHISE!" The green Kecleon brother, standing at the mini-stand that had been set up for the Tournament, smiled and bowed. No one paid any attention to him as Exploud continued. "OUR FIRST MATCH IS METAGROSS VERSUS RHYPERIOR!"

The crowd cheered wildly as Metagross and Rhyperior took positions at opposite ends of the stage. For several moments, they did nothing but stare at each other. Kevin was just starting to fidget impatiently when they suddenly charged. Rhyperior began shooting Rock Blast at Metagross with frightening power. Metagross smashed its way through the rocks with Bullet Punch and managed to land a blow on Rhyperior's head. Rhyperior retaliated with Mega Horn. Metagross managed to dodge and proceeded with Agility. Unperturbed, Rhyperior used Rock Polish and leaped towards Metagross at lightning speed.

"Can you see what's happening?" Kevin asked. "I can't tell what's happening. They're going too fast."

"Shut up and watch," Bolt growled.

Rhyperior snarled and launched himself at Metagross. Metagross lifted up its leg and attacked with Meteor Mash. Rhyperior slammed into Metagross with a resounding crash as he used Rock Wrecker. The stage shook wildly from the impact and dust was thrown into the air. As the dust cloud settled, Metagross could be seen, out cold.

"AND THE WINNER IS RHYPERIOR!" Exploud shouted. The crowd screamed in excitement. Rhyperior simply stepped off of the stage without acknowledging them.

"That was insane!" Bolt told Kevin. "I can't imagine how strong their attacks are!"

Kevin frowned. "Kinda weird, though... Metagross used steel attacks, which are super effective against rock. Rhyperior used rock attacks, which shouldn't have been very effective."

Bolt groaned. "There's more to battles than types, Kevin... how many battles have we won with moves that weren't effective?"

"That's different... I would think that the best of the best would be about equal in strength... Rhyperior winning would be plausible if he used neutral moves and the battle had taken longer..."

"Oh, just watch the next match."

* * *

The next day, the guild didn't even bother with morning cheers. Everyone knew no work would be done for at least two weeks. As they settled into the stands with the rest of the crowd, Kevin looked up at the platform.

"Hey, look!" he cried as he pointed up. "Isn't that Officer Magnezone? What's he doing?"

"It looks to me like he's talking with Exploud," Bolt replied dryly.

"No duh! I meant, what's going on?"

"EXCUSE ME, EVERYONE!" Exploud shouted. "OFFICER MAGNEZONE HAS AN ANNOUNCEMENT TO MAKE!" The crowd quieted down as Magnezone took its place in the middle of the platform.

"ZZT! Yesterday's match between Metagross and Rhyperior..." Magnezone began, "... was found to be unfair! ZZT!" As the crowd gasped, it continued, "The committee has asked for nightly examinations of the participating battlers' quarters. So we check to make sure there is nothing shady going on. ZZT! Last night we discovered needles and small containers of Protein in Rhyperior's quarters, including several empty ones! As you know, performance-enhancing drugs are strictly forbidden in the Tournament. Rhyperior has been disqualified. ZZT!" With that, Magnezone left the platform.

"I knew it!" Kevin screamed. "I knew that Rhyperior won too quickly and easily!"

Bolt shook his head. "Jeez, why would anyone want to shoot himself up anyway?"

Kevin groaned. "Where's the fun in a game if you can't deserve your win? All you do when you cheat is say, 'Hey, I'm not skilled enough to win without unfair advantages!' Seriously, pathetic."

* * *

**I may write another fic about the Tournament... should I?**


End file.
